Loeb Signs Off in Winning Style

Sebastien Loeb marked his final outing as a full-time driver in the FIA World Rally Championship with the 76th victory of his career on RallyRACC-Rally de Espana, which finished in Salou on Sunday afternoon following three days of thrilling competition.

After struggling for pace through Friday’s rain-hit, mainly gravel tests, Loeb moved in front on the asphalt of day two and remained at the head of the field thereafter in his Citroen Total World Rally Team DS3 WRC.

The win, shared with co-driver Daniel Elena, was their eighth in Spain and the 250th in the WRC for tyre partner Michelin.

Jari-Matti Latvala signed-off as a factory Ford driver in second place with Mikko Hirvonen third in the second works Citroen. Latvala’s finishing position and victory on the Power Stage this afternoon earned sufficient points to land third in the final drivers’ table ahead of Mads Ostberg, who led after day one but slipped back on day two with set-up issues and a costly spin.

“For sure I really wanted to win this rally,” said Loeb, who is targeting a partial programme of WRC events in 2013 as he revs up for a planned assault on the FIA World Touring Car Championship with Citroen two years from now. “We were really struggling in the start because it was really tricky on the first day. On the Tarmac I was able to take the lead but today was not easy because we had some strange tyre choice and Jari-Matti was pushing very hard and getting closer.”

Loeb opted for a combination of soft and hard compound Michelin covers for Sunday’s closing trio of stages in the belief it would be raining in the middle test - the 26.51-kilometre Santa Marina Power Stage.

However, while it was damp in sections due to light drizzle, the anticipated heavy deluge didn’t materialise and Loeb’s tyre choice proved far from ideal for the conditions. Latvala, meanwhile, opted for hard compound tyres and set two fastest stage times to narrow Loeb’s winning margin to seven seconds.

“I would like to have done one more stage because it has been good to fight with Loeb,” said Latvala, who will join Volkswagen Motorsport from 2013 as his former team M-Sport prepares for a new era following Ford’s decision to end its WRC sponsorship. “I have had some fantastic years with Ford and thanks to Malcolm Wilson for being so supportive even though I’ve had many crashes.”

Ford privateer Mads Ostberg finished fourth, 9.6s behind Hirvonen, with Jarkko Nikara moving up to a fine fifth after Ott Tanak and Hans Weijs both crashed out. Craig Breen secured the Super 2000 World Rally Championship crown in a career-best sixth overall with Chris Atkinson seventh for WRC Team MINI Portugal.

P-G Andersson finished eighth for PROTON with Dani Sordo battling back to ninth following early delays. But it was a case of what might have been for the Spaniard, who won a total of six stages, including four on Sunday, in his Prodrive-run MINI. Evgeny Novikov beat Petter Solberg to the final drivers’ championship point in tenth despite a 10-minute penalty when the tread depth of his soft-compound DMACK tyres was found to be under the 1.6-milimetre minimum requirement due to excessive wear on Saturday afternoon’s dry stages.

Next year’s WRC season fires into life on Rallye Monte-Carlo on 15 January 2013, 65 days from now.

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Loeb Faces RallyRACC Choice

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Sebastien Loeb admits it won't be easy to make the right choice when it comes to selecting his road position for the opening day of RallyRACC-Rally de  España.

Loeb, of the Citroen Total World Rally Team, has earned the right to choose his position for Friday’s mainly gravel stages first at the selection ceremony in Barcelona at 17:30hrs local time today after he set the fastest time on the Qualifying Stage this morning.

“I was thinking this morning that it wouldn’t make such a difference if I was the first, second or third or fourth to pick my place [on the road],” said Loeb. “When I think to the first day and where I will run on the road, we have to remember that even if the rain doesn’t come, the road this morning was damp. It’s not the easy choice and we have to think about the asphalt as well. This is not straightforward: Jari-Matti [Latvala] and Mikko [Hirvonen] both have very strong pace for this rally and we have to be wary of them.”

Of his performance on the 2.94-kilometre run, Loeb added: “I was not pushing very, very hard to make the fastest time this morning, but in the end it has happened.”

Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena will receive a special trophy in recognition of their achievements in Spain. They made their WRC debut in the country in 1999 and have won the event seven times. RACC president Sebastia Salvado will make the presentation outside Barcelona cathedral.

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Loeb Takes 9th WRC Title

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Sebastien Loeb secured his ninth FIA World Rally Championship crown - and Citroen's eighth manufacturers' title success - with WRC career victory number 75 on Rallye de France Alsace today.

In emotional scenes at the finish of the final stage in his hometown of Haguenau, Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena celebrated victory by 15.5s ahead of factory Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala.

“It’s incredible,” said Loeb, whose title was the 20th drivers’ crown scored by tyre firm Michelin. “We were dreaming about this moment at the start of the rally having lived this two years ago. Now we are here again with the victory and the championship in front of all these wonderful people. It’s not possible to get better than this, it was a dream all weekend in front of all these fans. We couldn’t believe the atmosphere two years ago, it was amazing then and it’s amazing now.”

With rain affecting the morning loop of three stages, and mud and damp sections a constant menace in the afternoon, Loeb, Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen - in the second factory Citroen and the only driver capable of denying Loeb the title - drove with caution throughout the day to finish in that order, a result that thrilled Latvala.

“To be honest it is my best Tarmac result,” said the Finn. “I have never ever been so close to Sebastien Loeb on a Tarmac rally if you think about the overall gap so I need to be happy.”

Citroen Junior driver Thierry Neuvile was less circumspect than the leading trio, claiming a total of five stage wins as he climbed from sixth to fourth in impressive fashion, demoting Mads Ostberg and Dani Sordo in the process.

Adapta Fiesta pilot Ostberg took fifth - his best result on asphalt - but Sordo dropped out after a heavy impact on the sump guard of his MINI John Cooper Works WRC on stage 18 bent the engine mounting and moved the power steering pump, resulting in a lost of power steering fluid and failure on the Haguenau street stage.

Ott Tanak won the Power Stage in a strong sixth overall. M-Sport Fiesta team-mate Evgeny Novikov lost almost three minutes on stage 18 when he rolled into a field and suffered considerable delay trying to regain the road. Miraculously, Novikov’s car suffered cosmetic damage only and he was able to finish seventh.

Chris Atkinson finished eighth for WRC Team MINI Portugal with Martin Prokop ninth and Sebastien Chardonnet an impressive 10th on his first run in a DS3 WRC in the world championship.

Sebastien Ogier beat team-mate and fellow Skoda Fabia Super 2000 driver Andreas Mikkelsen to 11th overall in the battle to be top Volkswagen Motorsport driver. Multiple World Touring Car champion Yvan Muller was 14th after going fourth quickest on stage 18. Former Le Mans 24 Hours winner Romain Dumas finished 16th in a similar MINI.

Brazil World Rally Team’s Daniel Oliveira went off the road on stage 18, while countryman Paulo Nobre failed to complete stage 21. Petter Solberg restarted under Rally 2 rules following his crash on day two but finished outside of the top 20 in his works Ford. However, there was no restart for Qatar World Rally Team’s Nasser Al-Attiyah after he also went off the road on Saturday.

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Philippe Bugalski 1963 - 2012

Philippe Bugalski, who died in a fall at his home near the French town of Vichy yesterday aged 49, will be remembered as the man who honed Citroen's rally cars into world championship winners and gave the firm its first win in the WRC.

‘Le Petit Bug’ first competed back in 1984 but joined Citroen full time in 1998, making his debut in the all-conquering Formula 2 Xsara Kit Car in Spain: the first of three asphalt rallies that he would contest with the squad that year.

The undisputed high point of his career came a year later, when he won in both Catalunya and Corsica in the car, co-driven by Jean-Paul Chiaroni. It was a performance so dominant on both occasions that the sport’s top stars at the time called for the car to be handicapped on WRC events. He could have added a Sanremo victory to that total had not conditions been wet on the second day, robbing the two-wheel drive Xsara of vital traction and dropping him to 11th.

The final day was dry, and Bugalski crashed out after a spectacular, all-or-nothing charge through the field that was breathtaking to watch. At the same time, he wrapped up three consecutive French titles from 1998 to 2000, again with the F2 Xsara: his favourite rally car.

In 2000 he also alternated occasional world championship outings in a Citroen Saxo alongside a testing campaign with the Citroen Xsara T4, which would eventually become the Citroen Xsara World Rally Car once the PSA Group gave the green light for Citroen to go head-to-head against stablemate Peugeot. His debut in the car came in Spain in 2001, where he finished eighth, but the best result of his first Xsara WRC season came on the rough gravel of the Acropolis - by no means his favourite surface - where he finished sixth.

In 2002, once the Xsara WRC really hit its stride, he was back on the podium with third in Catalunya: the same rally where he ended his distinguished career a year later at the age of 40.

Latterly, he devoted his time to historic rallies - where he competed in cars such as the iconic Audi Quattro - and the well-known Automeca team. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

It’s an overused phrase but Bugalski was a true gentleman, with a warmth and personality that far exceeded his diminutive stature. He was driven by a passion for rallying that led him to always help youngsters coming up through the sport, with Citroen regarding him as not just a valued test driver, but a true brand ambassador.

Courtesy: Anthony Peacock

Citroen Underlines WRC Commitment

Citroen has underlined its commitment to the FIA World Rally Championship beyond the end of the 2012 season.

The French manufacturer has always talked of its long-term commitment to the WRC, with team principal Yves Matton emphasising that fact with his efforts to unearth a natural successor to Sebastien Loeb, the Frenchman who has won eight world titles and 72 rounds of the championship in a Citroen.

Despite difficult mid-year results from patent company PSA Peugeot Citroen, a Citroen spokesperson said: “The announcement of last week, won’t impact our WRC programme. However, we are doing our best to look at options to reduce the financial support of the brand in our sporting package.”

Loeb has a signed Citroen contract until the end of 2013, but the title leader is currently deciding whether or not to retire - he has a clause in his Citroen agreement that allows him to leave at the end of 2012 if he wishes.

With Citroen, Ford and MINI being joined by Volkswagen for next year, the 2013 season looks like being one of the most eagerly anticipated in the WRC’s recent history.

The next round of this year’s world championship is Neste Oil Rally Finland from 2-4 August.

Loeb Pips Hirvonen in NZ

Sebastien Loeb has extended the lead over his Citroen team-mate Mikko Hirvonen in the FIA World Rally Championship drivers' standings following his win on this weekend's Brother Rally New Zealand.

Finland’s Hirvonen drove a faultless rally at the wheel of a Citroen DS3 WRC to help the Citroen Total World Rally Team claim their third one-two result in a row. Loeb tops the leaderboard with a total of 145 points, 38 points ahead of second-placed Hirvonen.

“It’s been a long weekend and my driving has not been perfect,” admitted eight-time world rally champion Loeb. “We made a few mistakes in the closing Power Stage when we were pushing too hard but the most important thing is that we have won. It was an exciting battle with Mikko [Hirvonen] yesterday but it’s good to leave here with a victory.”

Ford World Rally Team’s Petter Solberg has claimed the final step of the podium with his third place finish in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC. The Norwegian driver lost time due to a wrong tyre choice on the opening day but battled back to finish the event 1m36.4s behind rally winner Loeb.

“I am very happy to have made it through the rally, especially after what happened on the first day,” said Norway’s Solberg at the finish. “We came here to win but a third place is still good so we must be happy with that. The team and the car is fantastic, but we just need to keep going and hopefully one day soon a win will follow.”

Factory Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala had a bitter-sweet finish after claiming maximum points on the event’s closing Power Stage. The Finnish driver was knocked out of winning contention following an off-road excursion on day one but battled back to finish seventh overall.

Russian privateer Evgeny Novikov drove a mature rally in his M-Sport Ford-run Fiesta RS WRC to finish fourth, 37.2s behind Solberg. “It’s been a good weekend for us and our tyre choice has worked well,” said an elated Novikov.

Meanwhile, disaster struck for Rally New Zealand debutant Ott Tanak who had been running fifth for the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team. The Estonian hit trouble on stage 20 when he rolled his Fiesta RS WRC and was forced to retire from the event.

Following a string of stage wins throughout today, Citroen Junior driver Thierry Neuville has shined on his debut in New Zealand. The 24-year-old Belgian finishes the rally in fifth place, and leaves the southern hemisphere with 10 well-deserved drivers’ points.

Despite Dani Sordo’s best efforts, the MINI WRC Team driver was unable to catch Neuville on the final day and reached the finish in sixth place. Fellow MINI John Cooper Works WRC driver Armindo Araujo has claimed eighth, despite suffering from damper-related problems throughout day two.

Returning to the WRC for the first time since Rally Mexico, Ken Block drove his Ford Fiesta RS WRC to ninth place. Block was closely followed by Austrian rally legend Manfred Stohl who rounded off the top ten with his impressive debut in the Fiesta RS WRC.

Loeb Leads New Zealand - Day Two

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Eight-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb has won a day-long battle with Citroen Total World Rally Team's Mikko Hirvonen to finish day two of Brother Rally New Zealand with a slender 6.4s lead over his Finnish team-mate.

Ford World Rally Team driver Petter Solberg started today in fourth but a trouble-free day saw the Norwegian leap-frog fellow Ford Fiesta RS WRC driver Evgeny Novikov to finish third. Solberg now lies 1m26.9s adrift of second-placed Hirvonen.

“We’ve had a good battle with Mikko [Hirvonen] today,” said Frenchman Loeb. “It’s been difficult this afternoon, very slippery and I really don’t like that Girls High School stage. It’s very technical and I lost about eight seconds there this morning. It’s exciting to have a battle with Mikko and tomorrow I will have to push to keep him behind.”

Factory Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala battled back after yesterday’s off-road excursion to claim two fastest stage times. The driver is eighth going into the rally’s final day.

"Today has been okay - we have been working with the set-up of the car and the last two stages have been a lot better for me,” explained 27-year-old Latvala. “Unfortunately my situation is not so great at the moment, but that’s rallying sometimes and I now need to get things together and continue with a positive outlook."

M-Sport Ford driver Ott Tanak is fifth after a polished performance at the wheel of a Ford Fiesta RS WRC whilst Citroen Junior driver Thierry Neuville won a cat-and-mouse game with MINI WRC Team’s Dani Sordo to hold sixth. The 24-year-old Belgian now leads Sordo by 18.7s going into day three.

“We had a good fight with Dani, and tomorrow I must concentrate on keeping him behind us. Everything has been working well for us today - the car is feeling a lot better now and we have really enjoyed these stages,” said Neuville.

Portugal’s Armindo Araujo holds ninth at the wheel of a MINI John Cooper Works WRC despite losing time throughout the day with damper-related problems.

Rounding off the top ten is Monster World Rally Team’s Ken Block who is positively glowing on his return to the WRC. “These are absolutely my favourite stages anywhere in the world,” said the American Gymkhana star at the end of Stage 15.

The final day of Rally New Zealand will challenge the WRC crews with seven special stages that cover 61.33 competitive kilometres. The day will commence with the Burnside/Wech Access test, due to go live at 8:08hrs local time.

Hirvonen Holds Early Lead

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Molly Makes WRC Return with Citroen

Molly Taylor will return to the FIA World Rally Championship this summer after she was handed a dream opportunity by the United Business management group to drive a Citroen DS3 R3T on two rounds of the series.

Australian Taylor, an ambassador of the FIA Women in Motorsport movement and a former FIA WRC Academy regular, will tackle Neste Oil Rally Finland and ADAC Rallye Deutschland with the BP Racing team from Italy. Briton Seb Marshall will co-drive.

Taylor, 24, sampled her new car in Italy on Thursday: “For me it is a fantastic opportunity and a great step forward in my career. To have the opportunity to work with a professional team and a different car from the ones I drove before will allow me to learn a lot. I am trying to soak [up] as much as possible, this car has many possible settings, we are trying to understand it as we go. We have a lot of work to do this year to gain experience, we will take what comes and try to make the most of it.”

Pier Liberali of United Business said: “We started this cooperation with Molly Taylor, because we believe in this lady driver who has proven to be very solid and fast. I think she is one of the fastest lady rally drivers at world level today. Just like we do for all the other professional drivers whose management we take care of, we have prepared for her a medium to long-term programme, which caters for these events.”

FIA Women in Motorsport Commission representative and former WRC event-winning co-driver Fabrizia Pons added: “I am very happy that Molly has the opportunity to drive a performing car such as the Citroen DS3.”